A search operation has been launched to arrest a Maulvi (Chief Islamic Cleric) of Vavuniya and Chettikulam divisional mosques who had released a eight-minute long video clip via internet justifying the Easter bomb attacks on Sunday, Sri Lanka Mirror reported.

Vavuniya police announced that they plan to arrest the Maulvi for justifying the dastardly terror attack.

When as ISIS had claimed the responsibility of this attack, the Tamil speaking Maulvi Munajit, who wields considerable influence in Vavuniya region and has a significant social media footprint, released an incendiary video. Maulvi Munajit is said to have close ties to National Tawheed Jamaat, the Islamic terror organisation suspected to be behind the Easter Sunday bombings.

In the video, after a cursory mention about the victims, Maulvi Munajit cites an example from the life of Muhammed to justify the terror attack. Maulvi is heard saying that the attack is a consequence of Muslims losing their patience. He cites the example of Mohammed who kept quiet for the first 13 years of Islam despite intense persecution from Quraysh people but then launched the battle of Badr. Maulvi also had said in the video that to build an Islamic state is just thing and the struggle has just commenced for that.

Several Tamil organizations in Vavuniya, angered by seeing the video, immediately reported it to the local authorities. The investigation is being currently done by the Chettikulam police.

According to the report in Sri Lankan Mirrror, when the police went to arrest him, his family had told them that he had gone on a pilgrimage to Macca. Later when the police tried to apprehend wife of Maulvi, it was unable to make any headway given that Maulvi’s brother was a local politician and Maulvi is said to have four legal wives.